official statement

2001-10-18 - "In light of current events, we are changing the name of the band to something more friendly, `Basket Full Of Puppies`. Actually, just the fact that we are making jokes about our name sucks. In the twenty years we`ve been known as ANTHRAX, we never thought the day would come that our name would actually mean what it really means. When I learned about anthrax in my senior year biology class, I thought the name sounded `metal`. Everyone in my neighborhood had a band with an `er` name, like ‘RIPPER’ or ‘DECEIVER’ or ‘KILLERS’ and
I wanted to be different. ‘ANTHRAX’ sounded cool, aggressive, and nobody knew what it was. Until a few years ago most people thought we`d made it up. Even our album "Spreading The Disease" was just a play on the name. We were spreading our music to the masses. Before the tragedy of September 11th, the only thing scary about ANTHRAX was our bad hair in the 80`s and the "Fistful Of Metal" album cover. Most people associated the name ANTHRAX with the band, not the germ. Now in the wake of those events, our name symbolizes fear, paranoia and death. Suddenly our name is not so cool. To be associated with these things we are against is a strange and stressful situation. To us, and to millions of people, it is just a name. We don`t want to change the name of the band, not because it would be a pain in the ass, but because we hope that no further negative events will happen and it won`t be necessary. We hope and pray that this problem goes away quietly and we all grow old and fat together.
Be safe, Scott, Charlie, Frank and John

PS: If an ANTHRAX member gets anthrax, call Alanis Morrisette. That would be ironic. Don`t you think?"